The Truth of Shinobi
by SheWhoHasLostHerMind
Summary: Snapshots into what is more likely to happen to TRUE ninja. Not meant to be an easy read.
1. Simple Pleasures

Simple Pleasures

She sat, and she watched as the world spun further, further away. It was unlike anything she could ever have imagined! The gentle thump-thump of her heart, the soft caress of sunlight on her exposed skin, and the cool sigh of the wind through her hair and it all seemed to lull her into a state of _such_ peace. The smell of damp earth, rich and heady, rose up on the currents of air intensified by

the light shower and deep, rolling fog that had come with the faint hues of morning. The semi-translucent substance reached out tentacles to wrap sturdy oaks and dip between the boughs of tall pine, leaving sparkling dew on the fresh green shoots of new green life. The rising Sun burned the insubstantial fog away and cast the rain afar. The glowing rays painted the velvet darkness turned silky, blue

sky with oranges, reds, and gold. She'd never had the time to relax and study the transcendence of night to day, to watch the Sun's slow progression above the horizon and it was truly…breathtaking.


	2. Just Another Soldier

Just Another Nameless Soldier

The need had become urgent, rising up from deep within her chest. She strained to hold it in as her breathe left her in pants, chest rising in rapid, jerky movements. The sting of fresh wounds made them-selves known briefly but were drowned in a flood of adrenaline and instinctual _self-preservation_. She felt like the world slowed down _painfully-oh-just-move_, and yet sped up 'til she _couldn't-see-slow-_

_down-oh-__**slowdown**_. The air _shrieked_ as sharp _oh-so-sharp-draw-blood-kill_ metal tore towards her. So close! Too close! Why, _why_, was she here? She doesn't know! _Not-at-all-no-clue-why! _She does know she has to-needs to- definitely get away, _to-leave-run-get-away-now-now-FASTER-FASTER-FASTER_. It was singing through her head like, like a bad record caught in a _never-ending_ loop. DEAR LORD! What

had she ever _done_- but no what a silly, _stupid_ question! She was a kunoichi, a _ninja-killer-destroyer-MURDER_ and that's all she could hear. Again, and again, and _again_. Monster! Killer! Murder! _Monster-killer-destroyer-monster-murder-monster-monster-MONSTER_ and oh how it SCREAMED! Oh, no! No! No! No! _No-no-no-no-no! _Oh, PLEASE, no! But nobody listens, she thinks-DESPERATE. Why? Why? _WHY? _

Why listen to a broken doll dangling form frayed strings oh, so_, close-too-close-close-NO _to snapping? Left in a heap she'd be abandoned lying useless-USELESS-with no purpose, no reason TO BE! But _who cares_ she's just another nameless soldier sent on a mission that she _might-but-probably not-no-definitely-not_ make it back from and perhaps she giggles a little hysterically. If not out loud than certainly-

_certainly _in the depths of her tortured-shattered-crumbling mind. Then the PAIN, _OH LORD_, IT HURTS! IT HURTS! _It-hurts-it-hurts-it-hurts-it-hurts-hurts-hurts-HURTS!_ For a moment, all is quiet and all she hears is quiet. The world, it dims a little but that's okay and then a sigh. Her chest won't rise again and oh but she's so! So! Tired! Maybe she'd just lay here a while. Maybe. She'd…just…slee…


	3. Reality

**Reality**

The wet was in everything: their hair, their eyes, their clothes It had turned the dirt to soup and the trees into blurred grey monsters; their wicked sharp fingers clawing at the sky. He wanted to think of how depressing the landscape was or how he'd like to be dry and warm but that wasn't allowed. There was only the mission and what a bitter thing to think of! It felt dirty, knowing what they'd been sent to do, but money was money and they were ninja. Ninja were not moral or clean or heroes-in-shining-armor, they left all that honor bullshit to the pansy samurai. Right now, he rather wished he were a samurai. But, as the lightning flared and thunder rolled, he recalled reality was a harsh mistress and was reminded there is only the mission. So, he and the team kept running and running and the night began to light with false-dawn. They arrived and slid through the rooms until they reached the target. he stopped by the bed and watched as the young child of seven opened his eyes and gazed at him with stark terror and then with a brutal, quick slash those eyes saw no more. Still they managed to convey a message, "I didn't want to die!" they said. "How could you?" they asked. "Monster!" they screamed. The killer, the ninja, he lifted his hand-stained!- viewed it with silence before they were ordered out and ran back into the rain with the sky lighting around them. He knew that those eyes would stay with him, just as the kill before this one, and the kill before that, and the kill before that and the kill before…


	4. Bleeding Pain

**Bleeding pain**

Drip. Drip. Drip.

The noise, she knew, was blood. Her's and her comrades. It echoed off of the dank stone wall, and reverberated in the darkness. Perhaps they thought to drive them mad. She didn't know for sure and didn't really care.

Cough. Drip. Drip.

They were going to die. It was the simple truth. They'd known going in that if they got caught it was the end. Such was usually the case with unmarked missions. Not that she'd had any illusions of a grand death—no. Slit throat, and dropped in the gutter. Poison, and left in a wasteland. Kunai to a vital, and forgotten. Maybe, she'd even die in too many pieces to be recognizable, hm…

Drip. Drip. Drip.

When she heard young kids talking about how 'cool' it was to be a ninja, it made her want to laugh. In their faces. There was little glory to be had. There was nothing 'cool' about it, unless you were talking about the many missions to abysmally cold places. There were the legends, and then there were the rest of them. Pawns on a grand board, easily disposed and replaced—easily forgotten.

Drip. Cough. Drip.

She heard the creak of the metal door as their captors returned. She heard the struggle, the steady drip, drip of body fluids. She raised her head slowly and looked into dark eyes. She saw the blade, wet with blood. She watched as he raised it level with her heart.

Drip. Drip. Drip.


End file.
